Scholé Group Update & Ancient History Activity Ideas

Well, it's definitely fall now!  For us that means that there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees, the air is crisp, and the school year is well on its way.

My scholé group has met 5 times so far this year and we are really enjoying our time together!  We took this week off as a small fall break, so I thought it would be a good time to share a little bit about what we have been doing!  

In case this is your first time here (or if you just need a little refresher!) here is a quick summary of our group:

The Scholé Group of Rochester Hills began this year as a small group of like-minded families who desire to pursue restful learning together.  We have three families this year and are enjoying our small group environment.  We are a young group, with five children ages 4-7, so our meeting times may look a little different than other (older and larger) groups.  Our main goal this year is to develop a love of learning in our children, setting before them a multitude of opportunities to take in truth, goodness, and beauty.

Ancient History Ideas

We have started with ancient history and are moving our way slowly toward the present.  We focus on one people group or event each week.  So far we have learned about Creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the Ancient Sumerians, and we have just begun learning about the Egyptians.  We trace maps, add our events to a timeline, and do activities that help the children grasp what we are talking about.  Here are some of the activities we have done:

Paint cave drawings like early nomads - cut open some paper bags and let the children tell a story with pictures.  They can draw animals, people, or scenes from nature.   

Write in cuneiform like the Ancient Sumerians - roll out some clay (or Play Doh!) and have your child write messages using a stick.  Here are some symbols you can use: Lean How to Write in Cuneiform.

Make a model of the Nile River - We introduced the Ancient Egyptians by talking about the land of Egypt.  The children enjoyed making this model of the Nile River.  We even planted grass seeds in the dirt and had fun watching the 'reeds' grow up along the banks of the river!

Scholé Groups Spotlight

I was honored to be asked to write about my group this month for the Classical Academic Press Scholé Group Spotlight.  If you would like to read more about what we've been up to, head over to the Scholé Groups website!

Old Testament Days and Classical Kids Activity Books

I was not compensated in any way for this review, but there are affiliate links.  I am telling you about these books because I love them and use them often in my homeschool

An activity of any kind is sure to bring life to your child's studies.  Often, we will be reading a book and I can just tell that my son doesn't truly understand what I'm talking about =)  When material is new, it is understandable that there would be questions.

We have been learning about ancient times this year, and that can be really difficult for young kids.  Of course they are great at memorizing facts and answering questions, but kids just assume that everyone has been just like them so conveying to them how other people lived can take a bit of work.

Two resources that we have used this year to help my children understand what life was really like thousands of years ago are Old Testament Days and Classical Kids.  They are activity books that each have around 100 ideas/activities to do with your children pertaining to ancient times.

Visit The Curriculum Choice to read the rest of my review!

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks Review and Giveaway

Doesn't it just make you feel good when you find something that your children can't wait to do for school every morning?  That is how both of my children feel about A Journey Through Learning lapbooks!

This is our first year studying history, and I'm not following a 'box' curriculum, so I'm mostly piecing things together from a few sources.  I read out loud to my children a lot and then we do projects, notebook pages, copywork, timelines, etc. to reinforce what we have been reading about.  As we finished up studying ancient Egypt (to go along with the end of Genesis and beginning of Exodus), I was feeling like I needed to do something to review what we learned.  I had confidence that my son learned many things about Egypt, but thought it would be nice for him to have something to reference that had a lot of the information all in one place.

In absolutely perfect timing, I was contacted by A Journey Through Learning asking if I would review their lapbooks.  I took a look at their website and saw that they have many different topics for lapbooks, including ancient Egypt!  I expressed my interest in a few of their books, and they ended up sending me Exploring Ancient Egypt and The Earth.  

We jumped right in and got to creating our lapbooks!  We started with the Egypt one, and I loved that it covered all the main topics that we studied, plus more!  Each lapbook piece was preceded by a page teaching about that topic (Egyptian dress, mummies, etc.)  This was a nice feature because it allows you to use this product as a complete study if you would like, or just as a supplement to what you are studying.

My children's most favorite part about these lapbooks was...

Head on over to The Curriculum Choice to find out and read the rest of the review.  Also, you can enter to win a lapbook of your own!

Exodus Notebooking Pages

Download Exodus Notebooking Pages

We have been studying Ancient History this year.  So far we have made it through Genesis and Exodus, studying the Ancient Sumerians and Ancient Egyptians as we went.  I am excited to be headed to the book of Joshua now, and beginning to study Ancient Greece!

Most days I assign a copywork page to my son, but sometimes I switch things up by doing some other sort of writing assignment.  (He is still very young and I know that he can only handle one major writing task per day, though I see him increasing his abilities all the time!)  One of the things I had him do some days was a notebooking page.

I love notebooking pages because they let your child express what they have learned creatively and without feeling like they are being tested.  When my son does copywork, I make sure that everything is copied correctly, but with pages like these I let him work without any criticism or critique.  I really just want to see if he has absorbed anything that I have read =)

I created these pages (because that's how I roll) as we went along in our studies, and I wanted to share them with you before I moved on and forgot about them!

There are three pages, each with a picture, lines to write, and a box to draw a picture in.  You could assign your child something particular to write and draw, or let them retell what they have learned in whatever way they wish.

Pages Include:

• The Nile River
• Baby Moses in the Nile
• Moses and the Burning Bush

These are just pages that I created when I felt like assigning a notebooking page to my son.  I was not trying to capture each event in the book of Exodus, but if this is something that you would enjoy, I would love to make more for you!  Please let me know if these are a benefit to your family!

Download Exodus Notebooking Pages

Who was Pharaoh Akhenaton?

Today starts a series titled "Wise Words from Pharaoh Akhenaton."  Starting Monday, February 18th, for five Mondays I will feature a quote from him, share my thoughts, and have a free copywork printable of the quote!  I was pleasantly surprised with what I found as I researched him and hope that you will come back to let me share what I found!

Today I would like to share with you a bit about Pharaoh Akhenaton before we start looking at some of the things that he said.  I am by no means an expert on Egyptian history, and so much of the past remains a mystery, but it is fun to research, learn, and think about new things!  Here are some of the things that I discovered.

Pharaoh Akhenaton was a part of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.  At the beginning of his reign he was known as Amenhotep IV, but as he sought to change Egypt's polytheistic religious system into a monotheistic one, he changed this name to honor Aton, his deity of choice.

This monotheism of his is what I want to focus on during this series.  In Egypt, worshiping one god was unheard of both before and after his reign.  This concept, along with the quotes from him that I am going to share with you over the coming weeks, fascinated me so I wanted to learn a little more about who this man was.

Well, the more I read, the more confused I was =) Some have suggested that Akhenaton was the Pharoah during part of Moses' early life.  Some say that Akhenaton was Moses.  I am no one to say what the truth is, but I do know that I have to hold to what the Bible teaches, so I'm going to rule that second opinion out.  I'd like to read the book Unwrapping the Pharoahs to see the conclusion given there.  I read the book Unveiling the King's of Israel by the same author and found it fascinating, so I'm sure the one about Egypt would be insightful as well!

Perhaps Akhenaton had heard stories of Joseph's God since he had been prominent in Egypt for some time.  Maybe he did live in Moses' day and was influenced by his faithfulness to the one true God.  Maybe there is some other undiscovered connection that still allows the Biblical text to be accurate.  I do not know, but the wisdom in many of his words are worth pondering, so that is what we will do!

Please join me, starting Monday, as we look at Wise Words from Pharaoh Akhenaton.

If you would like to be inspired by quotes on all sorts of other topics, you can look forward to hearing from the other ladies at the iHomeschool Network as well!  I'll point you their way as soon as the series officially starts.